Thread: How fast will I need a hone?

So, I'm new to this and trying to get a budget together. I'm buying a new and professionally honed dovo, but am wondering how fast I will be in need of a good stone to keep it, well, razor sharp. Sending it out to hone is not really an option for me. How fast does a sharp edge become somewhat dull? Provided that I have the budget to buy only one stone, what stone would that be?

Based on my own limited experience, I've managed to keep my first shave ready straight good for 3 months with just a strop. I have three other blades now all shave ready so i have a comparison and the first one is definitely getting tired although comfortable shaving can still be achieved. Am going to be buy a new strop soon with a linen component and repurposin the original with CrO2 to refresh tired edges

It depends on how often you shave and how hard your beard hair is etc.

That said, if you buy a razor in good condition, all you need to keep it sharp indefinitely is a pasted strop.
If you regularly strop on paste, then the razor will stay sharp. 2 colleagues of mine have been doing this for years. One of them has extremely heavy beard growth so I am confident that with a minimal investement in a strop + pasted strop, you are set.

I am sure it is true that a person can keep an edge for months or years on a strop and pasted strops but this does not allow for the learning curve most beginners put there razors through. Poor stropping technique and day to day abuse will shorten the life of that edge.

My first shave ready razor lasted me about 3 weeks before i started to noticed a decline in performance.

The learning curve thing is fair enough, you will dull the blade, however, if you're meticulous and careful take it slow and steady, you shouldn't do anything bad enough to the razor that a good stropping won't fix. and that means extra stropping practice

Like i said, i've kept my first decent for 3 months. Am not going to pretend that i didn't nick the strop, put too much pressure on the edge, and on one occasion strop the wrong way (for a stroke lol). but i was always able to bring it back. I'm also not going to pretend that it was anything like a sharp as the others when they arrived, but it was still good enough to do the job at a pinch.

So the bottom line is it's variable and unpredictable. I would probably get a strop and paste it and then you'll be prepared.